HearPodhttp://www.maclife.com/taxonomy/term/15098/all
enLaw & Apple: EarPods vs. HearPods and Chinese Animationhttp://www.maclife.com/article/columns/law_apple_earpods_vs_hearpods_and_chinese_animation
<!--paging_filter--><p><a href="http://www.maclife.com/tags/Law_Apple"><img src="/files/u315479/law-and-apple_200x150.jpg" alt="Law &amp; Apple" width="200" height="150" class="graphic-right" /></a>If you are in the market for a new hearing aid, one manufacturer is worried that some of Apple's product line be be totally confusing you. So worried, in fact, that they are suing to ban the product and force Cupertino to pay them back for all of the confusion-causing damage. Meanwhile, more legal drama in China, where the government has decided to get more aggressive in the fight against piracy -- by suing Apple. Again. Frivolity and hypocrisy, can you hear me now?</p><h3>HearPod vs. Apple</h3><p>Well, now we've heard everything. Last week, <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57577603-37/apple-sued-over-earpods-product-name/" target="_blank">according to CNET</a>, Randolph Divisions and HearPod Inc. filed a lawsuit against Apple in a district court in Hawaii. The suit claims that Apple's EarPods headphones, introduced last fall, infringe on Randolph Divisions' 2005 trademark for "HearPods" which is, of course, used for their line of hearing aid products.</p><p>Apparently, Randolph Divisions fears that if you were in the market for a new hearing aid and <a href="http://www.myhearpod.com/products/" target="_blank">wanted one of these HearPods</a>, you might wander into an Apple store and accidentally end up with <a href="http://store.apple.com/us_edu_21023/product/MD827LL/A/apple-earpods-with-remote-and-mic#overview" target="_blank">some of these EarPod headphones</a>&nbsp;instead. Disregarding the fact that the stealthy HearPods, designed to be "the most discrete behind-the-ear hearing aid on the market," cost between $379 and $1095, and the Apple EarPods cost only $29, Randolph Divisions believes that because both products are things you stick in your ear for sound, you'll never be able to tell them apart.</p><p>No, seriously. According to the complaint, both HearPods and EarPods are extremely confusing to consumers because the products "are similar in nature in that, among other things, they are inserted into the ears of their users and are used to facilitate and enhance the transmission of sounds."</p><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u315479/tim-cook-hearing-aid.jpg" alt="Tim Cook Hearing Aid" width="620" height="300" /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Listen, folks: this is a hearing aid. We don't sell hearing aids.</strong></p><p>As <a href="http://thenextweb.com/apple/2013/04/02/holder-of-hearpod-trademark-sounds-off-about-apples-earpods-sues/" target="_blank">TNW points out</a>, although Apple owns the US trademarks for 'EarPods' and 'Apple EarPods', Cupertino never secured the domain names for Earpods.com and Earpod.com. Both of those domains are owned by Randolph Divisions and redirect to the HearPods website. It is difficult to say how much bearing, if any, that will have on the case. Apple has been <a href="http://allthingsd.com/20110429/yes-apple-did-buy-the-icloud-com-domain/" target="_blank">generous in the past when buying domain names</a> for products, but we don't know yet if Apple attempted to buy these and could not reach an agreement, or if Cupertino was banking on the belief that people can reasonably tell the difference between headphones and hearing aids.</p><p>Although this case may appear to be nothing more than a frivolous money grab, we'll keep our ears open for future developments; we can't wait to hear how this one turns out.</p><h3>China vs. Apple</h3><p>China has a serious problem with piracy: not the swashbuckling, high seas Jack Sparrow kind, but the taking or copying your product and reselling it without compensating you kind. Apple is often the victim in bizarre Chinese piracy schemes, including cross-border ziplines to smuggle products, and even a chain of <a href="http://www.maclife.com/article/news/now_chinese_are_copying_apple_retail_stores_too" target="_blank">fake Apple stores that even included fully staffed Genius Bars</a>.</p><p>So when China made a big move in January to fight piracy by <a href="http://www.maclife.com/article/columns/law_apple_china_fines_apple_chinese_pirates" target="_blank">ruling against Apple</a>, because Apple managed the App Store where some developers were selling pirated content, it was difficult to see through all the hypocrisy. &nbsp;In that case, a group of authors was looking to recoup their losses to pirated copies of their books being sold throughout China, and targeted Apple first. Last week, however, the Chinese government decided that kind of legal action made a lot of sense, and jumped on the "Let's Sue Apple!" bandwagon.</p><p>Shanghai Animation Film Studio, China's first and official state-owned animation factory, <a href="http://www.maclife.com/article/news/chinese_animation_studio_claims_apple_selling_its_work_without_permission" target="_blank">filed a lawsuit against Apple for $530,000</a>, claiming that it was Apple's fault that third-party developers were selling unlicensed content through their iOS apps.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u315479/black-cat-detective.png" alt="Black Cat Detective" width="620" height="300" /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Black Cat Detective says: It's time to get paid.</strong></p><p>With January's courtroom precedent, it seems possible that the court will side with Shanghai Animation Film Studio, and Apple might end up having to write another check to a Chinese company for allegedly supporting piracy. Or, China could decide that, with <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/2/4173558/chinese-state-media-warms-to-apple-after-tim-cooks-apology" target="_blank">Tim Cook's recent heartfelt apology warming the hearts of the state-run media</a>, that it is time to leave Apple alone for a while. Who knows, maybe one day they'll even go after the real pirates.</p><p><em>Follow this writer, Adrian Hoppel, on <a href="https://twitter.com/aphoppel" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.</em></p>http://www.maclife.com/article/columns/law_apple_earpods_vs_hearpods_and_chinese_animation#commentsNewsChinaColumnsEarPodsHearPodLaw & AppleLawsuitShanghai Animation Film StudiotrademarkWed, 03 Apr 2013 17:56:17 +0000Adrian Hoppel16639 at http://www.maclife.com